Schools

Public schools are a unifying force in our society. They are open to all students regardless of race, ability or religion.

No students should feel excluded in their own school because of their beliefs, and no parent should have to worry that their children are being given religious instruction in a public school. It is also wrong for anyone’s tax dollars to be used to support religious education through private school vouchers.

Americans United fights to ensure that all public schools are inclusive and that taxpayer dollars are not diverted to private schools. We do this by opposing vouchers, school-sponsored prayer and religious instruction.

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This Public Schools Week, we at AU are affirming our commitment to ensure that public schools are equipped to teach children all they need to know about core subjects like reading, math and science, while protecting families’ rights to make their own decisions about faith.

Private school vouchers are harmful for many reasons: They undermine public education, strip civil rights protections from students and violate the fundamental principle of religious freedom. Vouchers divert taxpayer dollars from public schools, which serve 90 percent of our children, and send that money to private, mostly religious schools.

On the eve of Public Schools Week, Florida's Legislature passed and its governor signed an education funding bill that harms public schools and religious freedom by creating and expanding private school voucher programs and requiring "In God We Trust" signs to be posted in public schools.